1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device for providing an original document printing.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a system that stores scan data in a storage device. The scan data being acquired by reading an original paper document with an image reading device such as a scanner, The scanned data is stored as document data and can be printed when making a copy of the same document later. The document data corresponds to the original paper document as it is read from the storage device. When making a copy of the paper document by using an image processing device such as an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral), the system uses the document data corresponding to the original paper document rather than the scan data of the paper document as the data for printing. This makes it possible to obtain a higher quality printout. An example of the system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H10-143414 (1998). The example disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H10-143414 (1998) is as follows. First, at printing, a bar code representing document management information regarding the document data is printed together with the document data. Next, when making a copy of the paper document having the printed document data, the system searches the document data corresponding to the paper document in accordance with the document management information detected on the paper document, and reads out and prints the document data.
On the other hand, depending on the format of the document file, there are some image processing devices that cannot start image processing for printing until such image processing devices receive all the document data constituting a document file. In other words, such an image processing device cannot execute the image processing unless it can reserve available space capable of receiving the entire document within a data storage area in the internal storage device. An example of the system corresponding to such an image processing device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-178284. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-178284 discloses a system in which a device such as a computer on a transmitting side adjusts the amount of document data to be transmitted in accordance with the available space within the data storage area in the image processing device on the receiving side. In the system, the device on the transmitting side compares the available space within the data storage area in the image processing device on the receiving side with the amount of all the document data to be transmitted, and determines as to whether the image processing device can store all the document data or not. If it decides that it cannot store the data, the device on the transmitting side reduces the amount of document data to be transmitted so as to match the amount of available space within the data storage area of the image processing device. More specifically, the device on the transmitting side reduces the amount of data to be transmitted by performing data conversion on a specified object contained in the data to be transmitted.
In addition, there is a system having a server for storing document data within a network, wherein the server that receives a transmission request of the document data from an image processing device, and transmits the document data requested from the image processing device that sends the transmission request. According to the system, a user can print out the document data repeatedly by reading from the server. Here, a function of storing the document data in the storage device of the server in a file format is referred to as a box function and the file system is called a box.
The contents of the file stored in the box are scan data transferred from the image processing device or print data transferred from a host computer via a network. The file is stored in the box in the file format matching the image reading device. Accordingly, the server must convert the file stored in the box to the file format matching the type and resolution of the image processing device that receives the file. Accordingly, as the number of types of the file formats of files stored in the box increase, the load of the converting processing of the file format increases, which presents a problem in improving the efficiency of the data processing. Considering this, a system is being investigated in which the server converts the document data received from the image reading device to a rendering format (referred to as “vector data” from now on) independent of the types or resolution of the image reading device, and which stores the vector data in a box. Here, the vector data refers to data that expresses an image in the form of a set of rendering information such as coordinates of points, parameters of equations of lines or surfaces connecting the points, and filling or special effects.
Although the format of the vector data is independent of the resolution of an input image, the amount of the vector data depends on the resolution of the input image. For example, when the input image includes a lot of natural images, the amount of vector data is increased. In such a case, therefore, it take a long time to transfer processing of a file having a high quality bitmap image when transmitting the document data with a vector format stored in the box to another image processing device.
On the other hand, the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-178284 employs a method in which the server reduces the amount of document data to be transmitted in accordance with the available space within the data storage area of the image processing device. If the amount of data is reduced, it is feared that the printed image the image processing device outputs may have omissions or that the image quality of the printed image can deteriorate.